Themiddleofnowhere

I am at the ends of the earth, or at least ti feels like it. I sit now, writing from a tent contructed out of tarpaulin and metal pipes, weighed down with sandbags. We are in the Himalayas. And by Himalayas, I mean real Himalayas, 4500 m up in a desert of yellow rock and scrub, stretching as far as the eye can see. Here it is wild, vast, untamed, a place where nature takes priority over man - our jeep battling with the waterfalls that flow over the road being proof of that. And I lie when I say roads, as there is only one winding its way through the Spiti Valley, its bend embracing the sides of barren, unforgiving slopes covered with shingle.

There's quite a sense of comraderie here, a mutual respect betwen people inhabiting the inhabitable. The drivers especially get on like a house on fire, all sitting outside in thwe wind and dust, in bare shirt sleeves, having jokes over a glasds of chai whilst us Westerners are muffled up to the eyeballs in hi-tec Northface thermals and woollen shawls. I mysel am exstremely thankful right now fot ther bright pink raving raving hoodie I bought in Manali and my Tibetan shawl, which is fast becoming my life partner.

Our driver, Govinder, seems to be quite a hit round here, he knows everyone, always stopping and having a banter thtrough the winow in fast Hindi with another driver. Right now, him and the owner of Batal's oly dormitory cum restaurant cum free standing permanent building are sat in the jeep watching wrestling DVDs, with his mum peering through the window, totally enthralled by the presence of TV, something, I can imagine, that you don't see verty often out here.

In addition to the drivers, there are also the unknown species... the lesser spotted trekker. Trekkers can be recognised by their lips whitwe with sunblock, sweatbands, ruddy cheeks and wraparound Ray Bans.

Ironically, most of the trekkers we've met are World Challenge GAp Year kids, who have paid $3500 for the priviledge of kipping in tents and weeing behind rocks. I don't really have the heart to tell them that it cost us 50 quid.